What a year 2016 has been! Many cannot wait for this year to end, but I try to keep things positive here on Live and Let’s Fly. While there is so much bad news to reflect upon this year, let’s not do that today. Instead, let’s recall what went well this year. There is always much to be thankful for.
2016 turned out to be another marathon travel year. As usual, well over 200,000 miles were flown.
JANUARY – Heidi and I rang in the new year in Goa; thereafter we traveled to Chennai, then Colombo, and the Maldives
FEBRUARY – Weekend in New York – Park Hyatt New York with John and a great story I have not told yet
MARCH – Heidi and I spent most of the month in Germany, taking advantage of an incredible British Airways business class fare sale
APRIL – After returning from Germany, we moved into our new home. A week later, though, I was on my way back to Germany for a trip to Tanzania on Turkish Airlines. The month ended in Las Vegas for FTU and the Freddies.
MAY – My first ride on a private jet, a wonderful Amtrak trip with my wife to Glacier National Park via the Coast Starlight and Empire Builder, and the Kentucky Derby with John made for a memorable month. The month ended with a trip to India on United.
JUNE – A wild month of flying included BOM-AUH-BAH-AMM-KWI-DOH-CDG-HAM-EWR-LAX on one trip and LAX-ORD-NRT/HND-BKK-CAN-HND/NRT-CGK-KUL-LHR-BIO-MAD-PMI-HAM-TXL-HEL-PEK-SFO-LAX. Wow…
JULY – My annual trip to Green Lake, early this year in anticipation of Augustine. Later in the month I began my journey with Lucky, flying LAX-PVG-CMB on China Eastern, including my first smoking flight in years. We continued from CMB-DOH-CMN and had a very entertaining dinner experience in Casablanca.
AUGUST – The journey with Lucky continued, CMN-DOH-JED-MAN-JFK-LAX, with a highlight being JetBlue Mint class. Later that month I traveled to Scandinavia with my Uncle, visiting Longyearben and Stockholm. Longyearben — and Pyramiden — were such a travel highlight. Wait till you read the report…
SEPTEMBER – After so much summer travel and with the baby’s projected arrival a month away, I promised Heidi I would stay home…and almost did. I took one day trip to SFO to check out the new United Polaris product. Thankfully I did not miss the birth! Heidi and I ended the month with a beautiful “babymoon” at the Park Hyatt Avaria in Carlsbad, CA.
OCTOBER – The birth of our son, a joyous day in the Klint household. I stayed home — the furthest I strayed was to FTU in Orange County
NOVEMBER – The travel bug biting yet again, I enjoyed a weekend in Washington, DC at BAcon. Later in the month I traveled from LAX-LHR-CAI-BEY, a wonderful trip that included Air New Zealand, EgyptAir, Turkish Air, Ukraine International Airlines, and JetBlue. I also officially joined Boarding Area, a conversation that had been ongoing for six years.
DECEMBER – I finished my post-Thanksgiving trip, traveling from BEY-IST-KBP-JFK-LAX. No other travel except for a handful of Hyatt stays around California to successfully re-qualify for Diamond status.
I am not even go to pretend next year is going to be any better. I already have the Garuda Indonesia first class trip booked. Now I only have to get to Jakarta and home from Amsterdam…
Wait till you hear what I’ve come up with. I’ll look ahead to 2017 tomorrow.
Matthew, I am enjoying reading your plethora of new posts. Happy New Year to you and Heidi and Augustine.
Matthew is there a blog post somewhere here that kinda explains in broad strokes why you took these flights? The map looks amazing! I wish I travelled 1/4 as much. For example, did you plan at the beginning of 2016 to focus on Asia and Europe, skipping South America and Africa, or was that kind of unplanned?
Hi vw, 2016 was dictated primarily my redemption options. The year started in India and the Maldives, which we chose over Tahiti because we spent Christmas in Germany. As AA devalued massively its premium cabin award charts, I wanted to squeeze in a lot of premium travel on carriers I had not yet flown, so that left Middle East and Asian carriers. The trip to Tanzania was, admittedly, driven by my desire to review the new Hyatt Zanzibar. I had planned a more extensive trip to West Africa, but United cut service to Lagos so that made it more difficult. I love South America, but have been to every country except for the NE (Venezuela, Suriname, French Guiana) and I am more uneasy about going to Venezuela right now than even Syria. Most of my travel is planned around mileage redemptions and in 2017 that may be the case as well.